Page:Wrong and Right Methods of Dealing with Social Evil - Elizabeth Blackwell (1883).djvu/56

46 Again, it is said, "Public opinion in Glasgow had matured so in 1870, that it would go even beyond the length which the authorities were going in their endeavors to suppress this abomination in the city." Again (7571), "The motive power is the citizen." "It is always a great advantage to have public opinion on your side." (7504 to 6.)

This essential condition of watchful public opinion existing in Glasgow in 1870, when Mr. McCall was placed at the head of the police force, he was required to enforce the existing Act, which, established in '43, and amended in '62, and again in '66, had, from the inertia of the citizens, been allowed to remain, for the most part, as a dead letter.

The law of 1843 enacted "That the owner or lessee of any premises or place of public resort, who shall permit men and women of bad fame, or dissolute boys and girls, to assemble therein, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding £10, to be recovered by summary jurisdiction; that the magistrates may require security for good behavior from such person, and, in case of repeated offence, imprison, eject, or otherwise punish such offender."

A later amendment of the Act confers the following important, but carefully guarded, powers: "Any citizen possessing evidence of the wrongful use of house or premises, may apply to the police, and the magistrate, on complaint of the Procurator-Fiscal,